


Good and Nice, Nice and Good

by Cathwren



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Future!Shance, Getting Together, Gift Fic, M/M, One Shot, Post voltron, Post-Series, Shaladin Secret Santa, Vague mentions of sex, but like, older!shance, shance, super vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 04:33:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13206057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cathwren/pseuds/Cathwren
Summary: The paladins are all grown up, but some of them still don't know what they're doing.I wrote this for the Shaladin Secret Santa for the lovely @reaadmydumbfanfiction who requested some Post-Voltron! I had a ton of fun writing it and hope they like it!





	Good and Nice, Nice and Good

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spinsters_grave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinsters_grave/gifts).



His hair was shorter, the stubble around his jawline more grey than black and the bleach white spot in his hair spreading through most of his bangs, but his bright eyes and soft smile were still the same. Shiro was thirty-three now and he was still strong but his body had softened; Lance thought it was a good thing, it meant Shiro didn’t anticipate needing to fight at a moment’s notice. Shiro looked happy. Well, not happy exactly, but content. At peace. 

Their eyes locked and Lance offered the man an easy mischievous smile, holding up his latté in a greeting before he took a seat across from him at the wide conference table. 

He was twenty-seven, still tall and still mostly long legs, but he’d filled out a little and hadn’t slacked off on his moisturizing routine. His trademark jacket was too tight now so he’d switched to the blue sweater Hunk had gifted him for his twenty-fourth birthday, wearing it over a nice collared shirt. It made his eyes look just that much bluer.

When the council meetings had first started, it was just their little gang from the castle and they all would meet up in little diners or someone’s apartment to discuss what was happening in the galaxy that they needed to keep an eye on. But since then, the Voltron Offensive had been recognized by nearly every country on Earth following their demolishment of the second Galran invasion, and things had gotten more official. So Lance made sure he looked nice, feeling the same way he did when he was thirteen and his mother dressed him for Sunday school. He played at being a qualified grown-up, carrying coffee and a nice leather planner, and spent most of his time doodling and winking at any attractive committee members that had been sent that year.  

Shiro didn’t have to pretend. He always looked like a competent world power. He was wearing a casual business suit and the fabric looked soft, the grey the exact shade of his eyes. Lance had realized long ago that Shiro was the hottest tactical leader in the known universe, aside from Allura of course. 

More of the team shuffled in, Keith in a turtleneck, his hair pulled back, a laptop tucked against his chest. Hunk was wearing custom tailored Bespoke but still managed to look casual and comfortable, bringing in a tray of snacks for the meeting, greeting them all with big hugs and sitting at Keith’s left. Pidge was talking furiously on her phone, her short honey colored hair a little grey around the roots despite her young age. Out of all of them, she had been the most successful back on Earth, one of the youngest CEOs in the country for her green energy and technology corporation. She loved her job but clearly leading the company as well as being one of its most prolific scientists was taking its toll. Coran and Allura sat together at the far end, preferring to let the paladins run the show, both of them dressed in elegant traditional Altean attire. The rest of the table was filled with representatives from all the governments and leagues that had chosen to attend, All of them looking serious with legal pads and glasses of water. 

Lance looked back at Shiro, finding that the man’s grey eyes were already on him. He arched an eyebrow.

“Can I help you Mr. Shirogane?”

“Oh no I’m alright,” Shiro said quickly, looking down at a stack of papers and neatening them. “Sorry, I must have spaced out.”

Lance studied his face and hummed, leaning forward on one fist. 

“Or maybe you noticed how incredibly good I look since I’ve cut my hair,” he smiled. “I have been told I look incredibly good.”

“Oh?” Shiro laughed, “well yeah you look nice.” 

“Good,” Lance corrected, “I look good.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Only one of those adjectives are appropriate when flirting.” 

Shiro rolled his eyes and went back to shuffling paper. Lance sat back in his seat again and seeing that he had no one’s attention he boredly tapped his fingers against the table before looking towards Keith.

“Mullet!”

Keith closed his eyes for a moment as if sending up a silent prayer.

“Hey Lance, how have you been?”

“Nice!” 

“Good,” Shiro looked up at Lance again, catching the Cuban boy off guard with his teasing smirk, ”I thought the ‘correct’ adjective was good.” Lance glanced between the two and nodded. 

“Yeah, right. Good.” 

“Good,” Keith repeated, looking exhausted. 

“What about you, Keith-ster? Red miss me?” 

That actually made Keith smile a little.

“Maybe. She’s fine, she just got a new paint job last year and hasn’t had to go past the Ilodian system for months. She’s probably bored of me.”

“I know I am!” Lance grinned and Keith rolled his eyes, reaching up to tighten his ponytail.    
“Go back to flirting with Shiro. I don’t like when you flirt with me.” 

“I would never flirt with you.” Lance gave a dramatic shiver. “And I wasn’t flirting with Shiro.” 

Both Shiro and Keith laughed, making the blue paladin’s ears go hot. Shiro gave Lance a sympathetic look and mouthed “sorry” and Lance felt his stomach squirm. He stretched his foot out under the table hoping to hit Keith but he smacked Hunk instead and his friend gave him an irritated glare before passive-aggressively pushing a plate of gingerbread towards him. Lance snatched up an iced lion and pretended to be very busy with his planner. 

The conferences were always boring, and this year they had somehow found enough to talk about that they had rented out the hotel and its business amenities for three whole days, something Lance thought was complete overkill. There was peace on Earth, two new alien civilizations had been discovered and welcomed into the alliance, and the castle had just finished its renovations with plans to start allowing kids from all over the galaxy to visit for fun summer camps. What was there to discuss? He leaned back in his chair and pretended to take notes while eating more than his fair share of Hunk’s snacks and stealing glances at Shiro. He hadn't been flirting. Really. 

 

* * *

  
  


After a day of tedious meetings Lance went to the hotel bar, drinking a beer and text-begging Hunk and Pidge to come hang out. 

**Lancey-Lance** : come on! Just like old times! Lets get wasted!

**Hunk** : I’ve got peace treaty talks at 8 sorry buddy :(

**Pigeon** : Find some1 else 2 be your bad decision 

**Hunk** : or controversial opinion dont make a bad decision this is like the one weekend a year you have to behave

**Lancey-Lance** : Behaving is no fun :P

**Pigeon** : ur gross I’m going 2 bed

**Lancey-Lance** : pigeon we all know you haven’t slept a day in ur life!!

**Pigeon** : tru but either way I’m ignoring u now bye

**Lancey-Lance** : :(((

 

Lance sighed and shook his head, thoughts of doing body shots and hitting the town drifting away. He was twenty-seven and sadly it seemed he would have to grow up. He hadn’t worked since Voltron, spending the first year with his parents and his siblings back in Miami and then starting on a touring circuit of elementary and middle schools to talk about his life as a paladin and encouraging science education and space exploration. Mostly he just wanted to settle down and have a family. He knew he would be a kick ass dad. 

But his long time girlfriend Monica had left him two years earlier when he’d try to make things serious, and except for some pretty bad tinder dates, he’d been single ever since. He ordered a vodka martini and like most nights, decided he should treat himself, so he ordered mozzarella sticks to go with it. Because he was an adult and that meant no one got to judge his credit card transactions but himself. 

He was taking the first bite of gooey cheesy when he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“Hey.”

“Shiro!” Lance grinned around his mouthful and then quickly set down the food. “Drink with me!”

“That might be the most terrifying phrase in the English language,” Shiro laughed, taking a seat next to Lance at the bar. Lance pouted and slid his mozzarella sticks out of Shiro’s reach. 

“He’ll have a martini,” Lance told the bartender, “And none of my food until he starts being nice.”

“What if I start being good?” Shiro smiled, leaning on one hand and raising his eyebrows. Lance was mid swallow and almost choked on his food. 

“Who let you get a sense of humor?” he said once he’d recovered. “Your mozzarella stick privileges are returned.” 

Lance watched as Shiro shot him an amused eye roll and started eating, stealing two of the fried sticks and dunking them in the marinara sauce.

“How have you been, Lance? Are you still teaching?”

“Not really. I’ve been doing some writing at home. I’m trying to get a history of the war together,” he shrugged, “And by that I mean I’ve written like fifteen pages and spent a lot of time drinking coffee and grimacing at my computer.”

“Understandable.” Shiro wiped his hands on a bar napkin as his martini arrived but his fingers still left small grease marks on the delicate glass. “Have you been seeing anyone?”

“No, not since Monica,” Lance said dejectedly. Shiro squeezed his shoulder.

“Hang in there, you’ll find someone.”

“Are you volunteering?” Lance asked, raising a playful eyebrow. Shiro laughed and his cheeks colored. Lance had always loved how easy it was to make the older man blush. 

* * *

 

Four drinks for Shiro plus three for Lance later, and they were both past tipsy, giggling and rehashing stories from happier moments in the castle that they’d all repeated dozens of times before. Shiro’s face was permanently flushed, ears approaching the color of Keith’s favorite jacket. 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry but I seriously cannot believe that you’re still just, like,” Lance snorted and gestured vaguely at the entirety of Shiro’s body, “working out and keeping house and not actually doing anything. What happened to us, huh?”

“I’m doing things!” Shiro insisted. “People call me and ask for tactical help, and I go to conferences! I’m halfway through my doctorate in political science! It takes like eight years, I’m on track!” 

“You spend more time going running with your dog and watching infomercials for those crazy ‘juice-every-item-in-your-house-including-the-juicer’ blenders than actually working on your thesis Mr. Shiro the Hero.”

“Hey!” Shiro picked up his glass and stood from the bar stool, pretending to look hurt. “You didn’t used to be a mean drunk.”

“I’m not. I’m not!” Lance half fell from his stool, hand still clutching his glass of sangria in a death grip. “Let’s go to the pool!”

“You’re spending your retirement swimming! You’re spending your retirement pretending to be a mermaid!” Shiro criticized, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. 

Lance looped their arms together and started marching them across the lobby.

“Pretending?”

“Right, right. Being. Keith isn’t the only alien here.” 

“Mermaids aren’t necessarily extra-terrestrial,” Lance mused, leaning his head against Shiro’s bicep. “Wow it’s still so big,” he thought. Aloud. 

“What?”

“See? Look let’s go swimming.” 

“No, you’re going to drown.”

“I can swim drunk! I’m not even drunk! You should see me drunk.”

“I was there for your twenty-first birthday and it was terrifying.”

“Oh yeah...That was so much fun.”

Lance reached the edge of the pool and let go of Shiro, kicking off his shoes and then peeling off socks, sloppily rolling up his jeans before sitting and swishing his legs through the water. Shiro sighed and shook his head, following suit and joining his friend.

They sat quietly for a long moment, until Lance took a sip of his drink, thought of something funny, and coughed half of it onto his shirt. Shiro dutifully thumped on Lance’s back, perhaps a bit too gently to really do much except give Lance the perfect opportunity to lean into Shiro’s shoulder and make himself comfortable. Shiro’s hand fell casually to his waist and Lance smiled, staring across the fake blue of the pool reflecting the bright stadium lights above. 

“Hey Shiro?”

“Mhmm?” 

“Did you know I had,” he laughed at himself, “the  _ biggest  _ crush on you back in the day?”

“What?”

“Yeah, totally. When I met you, you’d been this sort of tragic legend at the Garrison and then there you were all handsome and buff and joking around with us. Fuck, I was in love with you for like three years.”

“God Lance, you were what, fifteen back then?”  Shiro winced.

“Seventeen! And I turned eighteen a couple of months into that mess.”

“That’s really cute. I was your childhood crush.”

“I wasn’t a child!” Lance whined, accidentally knocking his head into Shiro’s jaw as he shook it in disagreement. He winced. “Also, I don’t know if the consent laws extend all the way to space.” 

“Lance I was definitely not thinking about  _ that.” _

“Really? Because I did  _ all  _ the time _.” _ Lance laughed at himself and his hand clumsily landed on Shiro’s thigh, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “You were my gay awakening. Well, Bi awakening, anyway. And to be fair, Allura was my awakening in general.” 

Shiro groaned and the arm around Lance’s waist squeezed for a second. 

“That was so long ago.”

“It doesn’t feel like it. I still feel twenty-one.”

“You don’t get drunk as fast as you did when you were twenty-one.” Shiro teased. “But otherwise yes, you’re just as immature.”

“Hey!” 

“You know it’s true. And you still look twenty one. Better even.”

Lance tipped his head back to look at the black paladin and he grinned. 

“Aww Shiro, who has a crush now?”

“Be quiet, Lance. We’re done embarrassing ourselves tonight, I’ve just decided.”

“That means there’s something for you to be embarrassed about.” Lance felt warmth bloom in his chest, like a tight fist uncurling for the first time in a decade. Still staring up at Shiro he laughed and then pressed a soft kiss under his chin, watching Shiro’s breath catch for a second. 

“Why don’t we get you back to your room. We have to be up early tomorrow.”

“Will you go to bed with me?”

“Yes, in my own room down the hall, I will also go to bed.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. Come on Lance, we can talk about this when the weekend’s over.”

“We only live like half an hour away from each other.” Lance said, his thumb rubbing a small circle into Shiro’s thigh as he carefully watched to see if he was uncomfortable. Lance felt much soberer than he had just a few minutes ago. 

“Promise?”

Shiro smiled and shook his head at Lance, his gaze so fond that Lance physically melted into his chest a bit more. Shiro pulled him into an awkward side hug and Lance felt warmth in his hair. A kiss? 

“Sure. Come on.” 

They both slowly made their way up, gathering shoes and socks and then swaying together to the elevator. The two check-in agents at the front desk watched them in amazement, the two war heroes they’d only ever heard about in stories were together, drunk and smiling. One of them tried to snap a picture on his phone but the other shook her head. 

In the elevator Lance pressed his face into Shiro’s neck, the arm not holding his shoes circling the man’s shoulders. 

“Can I at least get an ‘I-promise-to-talk-about-my-feelings’ kiss?” 

“No, Lance.”

“How about a goodnight kiss?”

“Goodnight hug?”

“Goodnight grope.”

Shiro’s laughter rung through Lance’s chest and the blue paladin laughed too.

* * *

 

He did get his goodnight kiss. Standing outside of his hotel room door, his socks and shoes abandoned to the ugly carpet so that he could curl both of his hands into the back of Shiro’s shirt, he pulled the older man close. It was a soft unhurried kiss- gentle. 

They were both older, both veterans of death and pain, their lives already intertwined with fear and joy alike, and they knew that there was no reason to rush. The kiss promised more, a future, that their lives would keep intersecting, perhaps in a new way. It wasn’t passionate or desperate, just warm and easy and kind. Maybe this was always what was meant to happen. Maybe the paladins were just always going to be making history.

When Lance pulled back he leaned into the metal hand that had curled around his cheek and he smiled. 

“Dream fulfilled. My bucket list appreciates your contribution.”

“Smart ass.” Shiro’s synthetic thumb played gently at the corner of lance’s lips. “I didn’t like you this way when we were paladins.”

“I knew you didn’t,” Lance nodded. “But you like me now?”

“For the past three years,” Shiro said, eyes at once sincere and teasing. 

“I age like fine wine.”

“Something like that. I’ll see you tomorrow Lance.”

“Promise?”

Shiro leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Lance’s cheek, right above a thin scar from a battle long ago. It was all the answer Lance needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was so fun to write and just what I needed to get back into the swing of writing! 
> 
> If any of you found me through my other Voltron fic, rest assured, it will be updated soon! Thanks for your amazing support <3


End file.
